Is Virat Kohli the batsman affecting his captaincy?

The history of cricket tells a story about great captains- they were seldom great in their primary skill of either bowling or batting. Great captains like Mike Brearley, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Stephen Fleming and Saurav Ganguly were all very good players but they were never considered to be great as a batsman.

These captains were astute tacticians who had the ability to read the situation of a game impeccably and another trait which stood out about them- they were great man-managers. These captains had the ability to identify the talent and harness it. They were able to bring the best out of their teams.

Talking about the present Indian captain Virat Kohli- without a shadow of a doubt he is a great player who is in line to challenge every all-time batting record, but, can the same be said about his captaincy skills?

So far, in his captaincy stint, Kohli has had his own problems. Right from inconsistent selection to his spat with former coach Kumble and also his inability to bring out the best of young players comes out as a glaring aspect of his captaincy.

What is stopping Kohli from being a great captain, despite the results he has managed? He has an imposing personality, his team carries the aggression of Kohli on the ground and his stamp bears all over the team. The 30-year-old plays an attacking brand of cricket and expects his team to do the same. Here lies the problem.

Not all players fit in this firebrand cricket scheme of things. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane are two prime examples of this. Pujara has often found himself out of favour as far as Test team selection is concerned in spite of being the most reliable Indian Test batsman after Virat Kohli. His conventional approach towards batting which is assumed to be too slow at times is out of place in the current Indian set-up.

Rahane has been dropped from the ODI team and his Test fortunes have also dwindled lately. On the other hand, aggressive players like Shikhar Dhawan got an extended rope in spite of repeated Test failures in overseas conditions.

Kohli's larger than life performance as a batsman, at times makes him someone who isn't held accountable and available for questioning. This kind of stature is often counterproductive, which makes other people in the team subdued and submissive, which in turn can result in a lack of confidence and lack of performance.

Kohli's record as a batsman speaks volumes about his greatness as a player, but his captaincy record asks one thing- is Virat Kohli the batsman affecting his captaincy?